Asics NovaBlast Running Shoe Review
The Asics NovaBlast running shoe offers a bold and innovative design concept for 2020 and lets you lace up in versatility for everything from high mileage running, tempo/interval training and even race day.
Josh reviews and shares his excitement for this new addition to his shoe rotation and highlights the all-in-one balance of lightness, responsiveness and protection it features for tackling race day mileage.
This neutral shoe has a snappy, propulsive feel with a rocker-like concept to spring you into every stride. The NovaBlast is stacked high on a 10mm offset to pack more cushioning between you and the road. You don’t overly feel that elevation in the heel and yet it reduces pressure over long miles.
The plush FlyteFoam Blast midsole provides shock-dampening with a consistent density that’s effective for neutral runners, without overcomplicating the midsole unnecessarily. It’s complete with a lightweight, breathable and well-structured upper to diversify your runs in comfort.
Check out the full review with transcript below.
Hey guys, Josh here from Sportitude and today it's shoe review time. We're going to be reviewing the Asics NovaBlast, a phenomenal shoe from the Asics running family. It's obviously their first crack at this NovaBlast category.
It’s growing from the Asics DynaFlyte, Asics Gel-DS Trainer and other shoes that fit into that tempo/interval running concept.
The NovaBlast is on a FlyteFoam Blast midsole, so a play on words there. It’s a very cushioned but very responsive shoe. The great thing about it is it’s a versatile shoe. We've had some success with people using it as their mileage shoe, tempo shoe, interval shoe and even it may slip in as a race day shoe for some runners.
With that being said there's a lot to get through with this shoe. We’re going to talk all things outsole, midsole and upper and profile the foot type that should be considering the NovaBlast. It could be a shoe to consider at home so without further ado let's get stuck in.
What we have is a very cushioned shoe. You can even see the amount of shoe underneath your foot. It's built on a 10mm heel-to-toe drop, so quite a generous offset on paper.
However, when you put your foot in it it doesn't feel like you've got a very jacked up shoe. It feels more like an 8mm to 6mm drop which is a good thing. In a lighter tempo style shoe you don't want to have that raised feeling in the heel, it can be a bit awkward with your foot placement on the ground.
Outsole
We’re going to talk all things outsole. It's a pretty minimalistic outsole. You may look at that and think that's going to be really flexible. Realistically, we're only covering the border of the shoe going around the lateral and medial side with a tiny pod through the forefoot.
However, through the forefoot it's actually really rigid. It has a rocker-like concept through the front half. It’s not super flexible which is great because it gives you a stable platform to get yourself into that forefoot position to toe-off and it feels very springy, almost exploding out of your gait cycle.
There is no carbon plate in this shoe but it might come. However, it does have a really snappy feel to it which is fantastic.
Midsole
Coming through to the midsole Asics are using their FlyteFoam Blast technology. For me it's a lighter, softer midsole. Without going into the technical aspects of this foam it's very soft in the high impact areas, so you can see for a heel striker it's got a bit of a cutaway.
It’s very soft at the back lateral side of that heel. Coming through to that midsection which is where I land, it's nice and soft as well.
It has a really good combination through the back half to dampen that first point of contact with the ground. As we come through to the forefoot where we toe-off, the shoe is nice and tightly packed so has a really responsive, snappy feel.
It's a simplistic midsole, it's just the one density. There's not much going on with regards to changing where high impact areas are and responsive areas are. They kept it consistent the whole way through both the medial and lateral side.
It is a neutral design concept. For the runner who's going to be considering this shoe, if you're an excessive overpronator it’s a no deal, it's not going to work for you. If you're a neutral to mild overpronator you can certainly consider it but there's no additional arch support on that medial side. It’s the same density medial to lateral side.
Upper
Coming through to the upper of the shoe it has an internal heel counter. It's not the most stable internal heel counter but you don’t want it to be too restrictive on this concept of shoe. It certainly holds and gives you enough support. Especially when you use that last eyelet to lock in that heel, it works quite well.
As you come through to the middle of this shoe I find the jacquard mesh construction to be a little bit deeper through the midsection. For me personally at the moment I really like that fit. If you asked me that question 6 to 12 months ago I might not have liked it. For whatever reason at the moment I really like how my foot sits inside this shoe.
Being a little bit deeper provides a little more depth for me. When I'm doing my short, quicker runs and I put a bit of pressure through my navicular region, having more depth and play provides more comfort which I really like at the moment.
Coming through to the forefoot it breathes really well but doesn’t sacrifice in regard to the execution of the upper. It's a strong construction but light and breathable as well. It's a fantastic design in regard to the upper construction of the shoe.
Width
This shoe is designed on a D width men’s and a B width ladies’, so only standard widths at the moment and I'm pretty confident that'll be the case going forward.
However, as I touched on before there is a little bit more space through the midfoot and the forefoot. If you are borderline 2E in the men’s or borderline D width in the ladies’ you could consider this shoe. You may have to try one on just to make sure, but if you have a slightly broader foot type it might be one you could look at as well.
I want to talk about a couple of the unique features of this shoe. As we alluded to before, it does have a rocker sole to it. That forefoot construction does curl up a little bit through the front half.
I really like that for runners that do suffer or get some soreness through their metatarsal heads and need extra assistance and propulsion in the shoe itself, without engaging your toes to generate that power. That rocker sole works quite well.
However, having a 10mm offset does take quite a bit of pressure off the back half of your lower Achilles insertion as well. It doesn't work the back or the lower calf as much as what other shoes in this category do. That's probably why it's entered into people's shoe rotations as a mileage shoe.
This is not going to last as long as the traditional mileage shoes out there, purely and simply because the foam is so light and soft it's going to compress a lot quicker.
However, if you're a runner that wants a mileage shoe that’s really light and is happy to sacrifice the weight you could consider this shoe as well.
I'm going to introduce NovaBlast into my racing. When triathlon season kicks off in the back half of 2020 to 2021 season, this will be the shoe I'll be using for anywhere between an Olympic distance triathlon right up to a half Ironman as well.
If I get the chance to run a marathon in the back half of this year this will be the shoe that I'll be doing it in. I am really impressed with how it feels.
I feel protected but I also feel light and responsive. It’s hard to get that whole combination in one shoe. There’s a lot to like about this shoe for me personally and we've had great success fitting this shoe down on the shop floor at Sportitude.
I'm really excited this shoe has landed. It's the first crack at NovaBlast and obviously with years to come there’s going to be more and more versions of this shoe. When a brand introduce, manufacture or engineer their first shoe sometimes there's a lot that I'd like to pick at but it's very hard to fault this shoe.
I'm really impressed with what Asics have done with the NovaBlast and it's a shoe that I'm certainly going to be using in my shoe rotation.
Thanks for watching. If you have any questions, comments or anything to do with the NovaBlast please contact our Sportitude shoe experts. If you haven't subscribed already to the Sportitude YouTube channel please do so.
Until next time happy running, happy training and we'll see you soon.
FEATURES
- Support: Neutral
- Upper: Mesh
- Midsole: Asics FlyteFoam Blast
- Heel Height: 31mm
- Forefoot Height: 21mm
- Offset / Drop: 10mm
- Width (women): B (standard)
- Width (men): D (standard)